


Now.

by btaeu



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Angst, JohnJae - Freeform, M/M, NEO CULTURE TECHNOLOGY - Freeform, nct - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-11
Updated: 2018-10-11
Packaged: 2019-07-29 09:41:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,901
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16261595
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/btaeu/pseuds/btaeu
Summary: In which Johnny finds out about Jaehyun’s secret affair and confronts him. Hard.





	Now.

**Author's Note:**

> Follow my twitter: @btaeu

**[Text** **From** **Babe -** **9:** **30pm]**

 _Come_ _home_ _now_. _Need_ _to_ _talk_.

 

What’s _this_ mean? Hm? That’s exactly what Jaehyun is trying to figure out. He groans at the text from his boyfriend and sighs, rubbing his hand down his face.

 

“Guys, look.” He says to his best friends Sicheng and Taeil, sitting across from him in their booth. The Buffalo Wild Wings is packed crazy with people, all watching some football game and getting wasted. Jaehyun is pretty wasted. “What’s this mean?”

 

Taeil hunches over and reads the text. He winces, squinting his eyes and widening his mouth. “That doesn’t sound too good.”

 

“What?” Jaehyun reads the text again. And again. And one more time. “Well what’s wrong with it?”

 

“That.... um... never mind.” Sicheng shrugs, looking away. Jaehyun reaches over the table and grabs his shirt, shaking him a bit. “TELL. ME. NOW!”

 

“Ah, okay! It sounds like it might be a bad talk!” Sicheng freaks.

 

“A bad talk? Like how?” Jaehyun is worried.

 

“Um... a b-break up... one? Maybe?” Taeil guesses. Jaehyun sits back down and shakes his head.

 

“What? No. No, no, n-no no. No? What? Why would that...” Jaehyun stops. “Why would that be? We’re g-going great.”

 

“Well.... Are you sure?” Sicheng asks, knowing something Taeil doesn’t.

 

Jaehyun slams his fist down against the table. “Yes! W-Why wouldn’t I be? I mean..” His words are scrambling around in his mind, trying to form sentences. He can’t. His heart beat speeds and all the food he’s eaten wants to come back up. Everything is spinning at this point, and not from the 3 tall beers he chugged. His head begins to hurt, and now he feels like he needs to shit. “I-I gotta go! Don’t wait up!”

 

He reaches into his pocket and slams down a twenty dollar bill. He tosses Taeil his car keys and grabs his coat, leaving faster than they can register. Once he makes it outside, he whistles for a taxi. He hops in and closes the door quickly. “Here!” He hands the taxi diver his phone. On the screen is _Maps_ , the route to his house. “Step on it!”

 

“Thanks!” Jaehyun throws a ten to the driver, grabbing his phone and jumping out of the car. He takes a few deep breaths before approaching his and Johnny’s house. He slaps his face a bit to wake up and continues taking deep breaths. He walks through the clumpy bits of wet snow and up to the front door of his house. He takes another deep breath and pulls out his house key, unlocking the door very slowly. He pushes it open and walks in as sober as he can.

 

“Babe?” He calls out. “Y-You uh..” He burps. “Ugh, in here?” It’s very quiet, so quiet he can hear his pounding heartbeat all the way in his head. He waits patiently, removing his coat and setting it on the coat rack. He closes the door silently and walks further into the house.

 

There, in the kitchen, is Johnny. He’s... cooking. That’s a good sign. Johnny likes cooking and is actually really good at it. Jaehyun sighs in relief. Until he notices the opened bottle of red wine and the half empty wine glass sitting on the counter next to the chopped up potatoes. The only alcoholic beverage Johnny drinks when he’s stressed. Uh oh. Not good. Jaehyun walks in more and rubs the back of his neck.

 

“Hey, babe.” He says softly. Johnny nods and continues chopping up celery, carrots and cilantro, mincing them.

 

“Hey. Hope you’re hungry.” He says.

 

Jaehyun is actually really full, but just smiles and laughs nervously. “Oh, s-starving. I’m just gonna go hop i-in the shower and wash up.”

 

Johnny doesn’t acknowledge him. He adds the minced ingredients into the big pot of soup and begins stirring repeatedly. Jaehyun walks up the steps in their house and to the back, turning to the left and walking into their room. He sees their cat on the bed. Chenle got her for them as a house warming gift. Jaehyun moves to pet her head gently.

 

“Hey there, Chenle Jr.” She purrs in response, leaning into Jaehyun’s touch.

 

He removes his clothes and walks into the bathroom, shutting the door. He starts the shower, turning the nozzle over to H. The water hits the shower floor loudly as he waits for the bathroom to steam up and the water to get hot. In a matter of ten-ish seconds, the bathroom is steamy and Jaehyun removes the rest of his clothes, hopping into his walk-in shower. The water feels amazing, running down his back and chest. He leans his head against the tiled wall and sighs, overthinking. Really overthinking.

 

 _What’s_ _gonna_ _happen?_ He wonders.

 

 _Please_ _don’t_ _take_ _Johnny_ _away_ _from_ _me_. He prays.

 

 _Everything_ _will_ _be_ _fine_. He hopes.

 

After washing off and running his face under the hot water for eight minutes, he gets out and dries off. He’s sober enough to talk correctly, but there’s definitely still a drunk him deep down waiting to collapse on the bed and never wake up. He brushes his teeth hard to get the taste of alcohol off his breath. Skips the skincare routine. Skips blowdrying his hair. Jaehyun goes straight to his closet and throws on a pair of clean underwear, a regular t shirt, and a warm pair of sweats. He takes him time applying lotion to the visible parts of his body and face and once he’s done, he sits in the room for a bit longer. Praying. He gets on his knees and prays hard that tonight goes well. That everything goes well. There’s a scrape on his bedroom window that startles him. It’s a tree, blowing in the wind. All the autumn leaves have fallen off. The tree is now naked. Cold. Exposed. It scares him.

 

“ _Jaehyun!_ ” A voice calls from downstairs and Jaehyun jumps out of his skin. He gets up from the floor and waits a few minutes for his heart to stop beating so rapidly. Not working. His hands grow sweaty as he drunkenly makes his way out of the room and down the steps. He walks into the dining room area, and see’s Johnny sitting at the table. There’s a bowl of soup in front of him, steam coming from it. On the other side of the table is another bowl, also steaming. Must be for him. “Dinner is ready.”

 

Jaehyun CAREFULLY makes his way over to the table and takes a seat. He doesn’t say anything. He struggles to pick up his spoon, but when he does, he wobbly stirs the soup around before taking a big spoonful and shoving it into his mouth. It burns, but there isn’t a pain worse than letting your overthinking mind flood your head with horrible thoughts. Jaehyun just eats, hot spoonful after hot spoonful. He feels Johnny’s eyes on him, and fights back the urge to look up and meet those piercing brown heart throbbers. His spoon clanks the bottom of the bowl and he realizes he’s almost out of soup. What’s he gonna do when he runs out?

 

_Get up ?_

 

So Johnny‘s eyes could follow his every move? Nope. Not happening. Jaehyun slows down on the soup and begins to eat very slowly. He hears Johnny blow on his soup, then the clanking noise of his spoon hitting his teeth. It’s very quiet again. There’s an elephant in the room, and the tension is so thick, you could slice it with a knife and it’d still be there. Jaehyun wants Johnny to say something. But not that _one_ _thing_. Anything but that _one_ _thing_. His patience is cooking him raw and eating him. His hands are sweaty again. He finishes his soup. Time to kiss the cook and go to bed.

 

“Wow that was delicious, thanks so much babe, goodnight.” Jaehyun tries and gets up to leave.

 

“No.” Johnny says, bringing his head up from eating. “Sit.”

 

Jaehyun hesitates, then plops back down without another word. Johnny sits back and runs a hand through his somewhat long hair. Jaehyun looks anywhere but at him. It’s so quiet again, it’s scary. Johnny crosses his arms over his chest and takes a deep breath. “So..” He starts, getting Jaehyun’s attention. Jaehyun looks at him and stares into his eyes.

 

“Yes?” He asks, nervously.

 

“How was your day?”

 

“Oh...” Jaehyun rubs the back of his neck. “It.. was fine. Good.”

 

“Hm.” Johnny hums. Jaehyun tries to get up, but Johnny shakes his head. He plops back down again and plays with his fingers.

 

“Where’d you go during your lunch break?”

 

“What?” It’s quiet once again. Johnny’s not repeating himself. Jaehyun shrugs mindlessly and waves his hand. “I uh.. went out..”

 

Johnny doesn’t respond. That’s not the answer he‘s looking for. Jaehyun stares at him from across their table. Johnny sighs angrily. “With who... _exactly?_ ”

 

Fuck. “Um.. you know. With the.. boys..” Jaehyun mumbles the last part, looking around the room.

 

“Huh?”

 

“I said with the boys.”

 

“Oh... _the_ _boys_ , like Sicheng and Taeil?” Johnny asks, sitting up. Jaehyun is quiet, folding his arms over his chest. Johnny scoots his chair back like he’s about to get up, but doesn’t. “The boys. like.. _Sicheng_ and _Taeil_?” He repeats through gritted teeth. Jaehyun sighs, frowning his face.

 

“Yes! The boys like... Sicheng and Taeil.”

 

“BULLSHIT!” Johnny finally yells.

 

“Fine!” Jaehyun yells back. “I wasn’t with them! Is that what you want to hear!?”

 

Johnny stands up, slamming his hands on the table. “Goddammit, Jaehyun!” The table shakes. “No! I want the fucking truth! S-So don’t be fucking stupid!?”

 

“Stop yelling at me!”

 

“WHAT!?” Johnny’s voice does that high pitched thingy when he’s really angry. He walks over to Jaehyun who is still sitting and grabs his shirt. He pulls him close and pulls down his shirt to check his chest... hickey’s. Jaehyun sits there uncomfortably defeated and grabs Johnny’s hands, trying to pull away. “Let go of me!”

 

Johnny lets go and Jaehyun slams back down into the chair. Johnny backs away and takes their bowls, walking to the kitchen. He angrily slams them down into the sink and they break. He moves around the kitchen, placing other dishes into the other sink that’s filled with soapy water. He grabs the sponge and plunges into the soapy water, washing and scrubbing dishes. He mumbles to himself as he stacks the dishes one by one getting them clean. He comes to a plate. A very fragile plate that was a gift from one of their friends. He scrubs it hard, harder, and it breaks in his hands. He’s too busy being a grumpy puss that he doesn’t feel the shards of glass until one cuts his hand open. The water turns red and he looks down. “Shit!” He backs away and holds out his left hand.

 

Jaehyun hops up and runs toward him. “Oh my god, what happened!?”

 

Johnny backs away more, and points. “Don’t touch me!” Jaehyun stands there and watches as Johnny grabs several paper towels and wraps them around his bloody wound. He takes deep breaths, and pushes the hair over his eyes back. Jaehyun stands there, staring at his hand, then at him. “Johnny..” He says. Johnny looks away and swallows with a dry mouth. “Johnny, please.”

 

“You promised.” He says, quietly. “You promised me you’d never cheat on me.” Jaehyun doesn’t move. Johnny’s bottom lip quivers and he sighs. He wipes his nose and stares at everything but Jaehyun. He’s disappointed. Hurt. Jaehyun tries to move again, but Johnny holds his arm up.

 

“Don’t come near me. I mean it.”

 

“Johnny, you’re acting ridiculous!”

 

“Am I!? Hm, lets fucking see! Last year! Mark’s graduation party? You had to suddenly leave in the middle of it cause you got a call from work!? It was Saturday!”

 

Jaehyun tries to speak, but Johnny continues.

 

“July 4th, you left seven times! _SEVEN_! We couldn’t even enjoy the fireworks Jeno was so happy to light because you kept leaving! I had to leave and defend you so people wouldn’t start getting suspicious!”

 

“Johnny, let me-!”

 

Johnny growls. “No! You missed my birthday party, and YOUR OWN surprise party! You promised Jungwoo you’d make it to his birthday dinner but NEVER SHOWED at all! I had to cover for you again!” Johnny scoffs. “You made him so upset, he cried.”

 

“I apologized!” Jaehyun yells.

 

“You didn’t apologize for New Years Eve! You left away with WHOEVER, and you missed the countdown. I had to kiss yuta’s sister!”

 

Jaehyun scoffs. “Like that wasn’t fun.”

 

“I’M FUCKING _GAY_ , YOU MORON!”

 

Yikes. Jaehyun sighs and shoves his hands uncomfortably into his sweatpants’ pockets. Johnny swallows the lump in his throat and shakes his head.

 

“You keep promising and saying over and over that it won’t happen again. But.. it does.”

 

Johnny wipes his eyes.

 

“And I was a fool to not notice before.”

 

“Joh-“

 

“ _And_ _with_ _all_ _people_ , _TAEYONG!?_ _DONT_! Move.”

 

Jaehyun stops his feet from moving and swallows the lump now forming in his throat.

 

“Johnny, please. I’m sorry!”

 

“No, you’re not! I’m sick of this, Jae. I’m sick of you apologizing and missing out, and hurting our friends. Hurting me.” Johnny pushes off of the kitchen counter and walks pass Jaehyun, pressing the paper towel down on his wounded hand. Jaehyun follows close behind as Johnny makes his way up the stairs and to their room. He opens the door and heads straight to the bathroom. Jaehyun stands in the middle of the room, hands in his pockets.

 

“Johnny.”

 

No answer. Jaehyun sighs, and blinks away his tears. “ _Johnny_.”

 

Johnny walks out of the bathroom, gauze around his hand. He looks to Jaehyun angrily and stands there. They’re 5 feet apart, but it feels like 500. Jaehyun looks at the ground, then back to Johnny.

 

“I know I’ve... done some things that I shouldn’t have, and said some things I should’ve kept to myself, a-and made some promises I’ve broken-“

 

“ _All_ of them.” Johnny cuts.

 

“I can be better. I can do better. Okay?? Look. T-Taeyong means nothing to me! I’ll call it off and then we can take a break! And then we can-“

 

“It’s too late for that, Jae.”

 

Jaehyun shakes his head and pulls his hands from his pockets.

 

“No it’s not, I can get good!” Chenle Jr becomes startled and jumps up, hiding under their bed. Johnny balls his fist. “But you can’t take back all the shit you’ve caused!! All the damage you’ve done? Shall I remind you!?” He pulls out Jaehyun’s phone (he left in the bathroom) and goes to the texts. He points it to Jaehyun, and on the screen is his text log with Taeyong.

 

Johnny frowns harder. “Yeah! YOU did this!”

 

“John.. I-I didn’t-!”

 

“You did! Many times! You’ve texted him, called him, went to lunch with him, and even went on late night dinner dates!!!! WHILE STILL WITH ME!!” He takes a breath. “So you know what?”

 

He walks to their closet, and begins to throw out all of Jaehyun’s clothes starting with his shirts. He continues to throw out Jaehyun’s pants, and shoes. Jaehyun balls his fists, tears slipping from his eyes.

 

“Johnny, stop it!”

 

“No! Take your shoes and your socks and your ties, take your dumbass Xbox, and ALL OF YOUR SHIT!” He breathes hard, whipping around to face Jaehyun. “AND GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY HOUSE!”

 

“WHAT?!” Jaehyun yells, way more sober now. “No, no Johnny! Stop!”

 

But Johnny doesn’t. He throws all of Jaehyun’s stuff out of the closet, a huge pile forming on the bed. He then bumps Jaehyun’s shoulder and crosses over to the bathroom, throwing out all of his skin care products, lotions, and hygiene care. Jaehyun looks under the bed and tries to call Chenle Jr out from hiding. When he can’t, he grows angry.

 

“STOP IT! YOU’RE SCARING CHENLE JR!”

 

“I DON’T GIVE TWO SHITS ABOUT HER!!”

Johnny yells, vein popping out of his neck.

 

Jaehyun stands up straight. “Why are you doing this!? Huh!?” He cries. “To punish me!? T-To get back at me!? What!? _WHAT!?”_

 

“I’M DOING THIS FOR _ME_ , JAEHYUN! Because your life stopped being about me the moment you put your lips and hands all over Taeyong and FUCKED HIM like your life depended on it!”

 

Chenle Jr hisses and growls as Johnny’s voice bounces off the walls. Jaehyun breathes in, then out.

 

“Can you please, j-just stop... yelling. And talk to me?”

 

“I am _done_ talking to you.” Johnny says. And those truly are his final words. Jaehyun backs away, angrier than he’s ever been in his life.

 

“Fuck you.” He mumbles.

 

Johnny stops what he’s doing and turns to look at him. “What? Did you just say?” Jaehyun holds up his right hand and flips Johnny off with his long middle finger. There are no more words after that.

 

Johnny is running full speed and tackling Jaehyun to their red velvet, carpeted floor. They wrestle and groan angrily, pushing and pulling at one another. Johnny pins Jaehyun down on his back and punches him square in the jaw. Jaehyun kicks him in the stomach and gets up, wiping the blood from his mouth.

 

“Nice try, John. I’m drunk! I can’t feel a thing!” He walks towards Johnny and grabs a fistful of his hair, dragging him out of the room. Johnny groans out in pain as he squirms and wiggles and kicks to get free from Jaehyun’s harsh grasp. Jaehyun drags him out into the hallway and towards the stairs. Johnny grabs Jaehyun’s wrists and digs his sharp nails into them, causing Jaehyun to let go and wince out in pain.

 

Johnny gets up and grabs Jaehyun by the shirt. Once Jaehyun grabs HIS wrists, Johnny headbutt’s him hard and they both go tumbling down the steps. Stair after stair, PULL AFTER PULL. Johnny’s shirt is torn and a good patch of Jaehyun’s hair is ripped out. Once they reach the bottom, they crash onto the hard marble floor.

 

As Johnny’s vision comes back into focus, his frontal lobe throbs in pain. He’s only ever head butted someone once in his life and he was stupid then, too. The pain is almost unbearable. When he looks over, the right side of his face is met with Jaehyun’s fist. He rolls over once and holds his eye in pain, before getting to his feet. He and Jaehyun are not that far apart. Jaehyun’s lip and nose are bleeding, while Johnny’s eye and face are swelling up.

 

Johnnystares at Jaehyun. Into his glossy eyes. _This_ _isn’t_ _even_ _him_. He sighs sadly and sinks back to the ground. He begins to cry because there’s nothing else left to do. He’s yelled, screamed, cursed, and fought. He’s tired.

 

Jaehyun stares at him, breathing hard. Johnny’s cries turn into sobs, and it cuts Jaehyun’s heart right in two. “J-John...” he starts. He tries to walk over to him, putting a hand on his shoulder. Johnny comes up with an uppercut, sucker punching the shit out of him. Jaehyun goes flying in the air, hitting the ground with a loud thud, and banging his head in the process

 

 **K.** **O.**

 

When Jaehyun wakes, his ears are filled with a high pitched noise. He squeezes his eyes shut and when he opens them he takes a look around. He’s surrounded by clothes, shoes, ties, bathroom products. His xbox. His cat. He clutches something in his left hand and when he looks, he’s see a silver ring. THE promise ring. Johnny’s promise ring. He sits up, causing Chenle Jr to jump off of his chest. His head throbs wildly from all angles. There’s something moving in his mouth, and when he spits it out into his hand, his eyes widen. It’s his tooth. One of his canines. There’s spit and blood on it. He’s in total shock at the events that come flooding back to his aching, hungover head. EVERY INCH of his body hurts so bad, he feels broken. The front door’s knob jiggles and in walks...

 

“Si..cheng?”

 

“Jaehyun!” Sicheng rushes to Jaehyun’s side, examining his state of condition. “What happened!?”

 

Jaehyun sits there, saddened. “I... I don know.”

Sicheng helps him up and they take a look around the place. It’s trashed. Broken glass from plates, glasses, and anything else fills the floor. There’s ripped up papers and boxes and just trash everywhere. Jaehyun looks around his area and sees blood, shreds of clothes, and locks of his hair. He holds his tooth in one hand, and Johnny’s ring in the other.

 

“I pretty sure my jaw is bwoken.” He says seriously, his speech altered.

 

“I’ll... drive you to the hospital.” Sicheng offers.

Jaehyun looks up the steps. “Hold on.” He walks up each step slowly and when he reaches the top, he goes into the bedroom. It’s trashed too. He sighs sadly, tears flooding his eyes. “Jaehyun, come quick! I found something!”

 

Jaehyunturns around and makes his way back down the steps. His eyes wander the broken house as he limps into the kitchen. Sicheng stands there, a white piece of paper in his hands.

 

“It’s for you.” He whispers.

 

Jaehyun snatches it out of Sicheng’s hand and reads it’s desperately.

 

_Jaehyun,_

_If_ _you’re_ _reading_ _this_ , _you_ _must_ _be_ _awake._ _I_ _gathered_ _up_ _all_ _of_ _your_ _shit_ _to_ _make_ _it_ _easier_ _for_ _you_ _to_ _get_ _the_ _hell_ _out_. _I’m_ _giving_ _you_ _the_ _rest_ _of_ _the_ _day_ _to_ _be_ _out_ _of_ _my_ _house_ , _or_ _else_ _I’m_ _calling_ _the_ _cops_. _Good_ _luck._

\- _Johnny_

 

“Oh god..” Jaehyun cries, sniffing. “Oh god, no.”

 

His legs go weak and Sicheng catches him before he falls. He cries and weeps in Sicheng’s arms, squeezing him tight. He cries harder, his breath coming in short hiccups.

 

 _This_ _is_ _really_ _happening_.. _isn’t_ _it?_

 

 

Jaehyun carries the last of his things and puts them in the back of Sicheng’s truck, since his car is full. Taeil helps tie everything together so it doesn’t fall. Jaehyun closes it up and sighs, wiping the sweat from his head. The cold air burns his lungs as he walks back inside the house. “That’s evwything.” He says, jaw still broken, and looking into Johnny’s eyes.

 

Johnny looks away and picks up Chenle Jr, setting her into Jaehyun’s arms. “Don’t forget her.” Is all he says before he turns around and stands behind the door. Jaehyun stares at him, his eyes tearing up. Johnny’s face is red and swollen. He’s got a black eye and busted knuckles. Ten and Lucas are in the back, sweeping up all the shards of glass.

 

They lock eyes for a bit. Jaehyun feels like his heart breaks and he sighs. He reaches into his pocket and hands Johnny his house key. Johnny hesitates then takes it.

 

“Johnny.”

 

Johnny looks up and meets Jaehyun’s eyes again.

 

“Please.. I’m _so_ sorry. I can change. Give me another chance. I... _love_ _you_.”

 

His tears fall down his cheeks, and off of his quivering lip. Johnny looks away.

 

“... goodbye, Jaehyun.”

 

The door closes in Jaehyun’s face and he stands there, crying. He turns on his heels and walks away, getting into his car with Chenle Jr.

 

Johnny shuts the door slowly, and rests his head on it. He sighs heavily and slides down, wiping his eyes.

 

“ _I_ _love_ _you, too_.” He whispers.


End file.
